Court Says Ground Zero Cross Can Stay, Atheists Weep and Gnash Teeth

I don’t think the atheists really had a prayer with this lawsuit. The atheist group, American Atheists, pretended to be so horrified by the sight of a cross at the 9-11 museum that they filed suit for it to be removed.

“Atheists died on 9/11, members of our organization suffered in lower Manhattan on that day, and our members helped with the rescue and recovery efforts, yet we are denied equal representation in the National Museum,” American Atheists President David Silverman reportedly said.

But the suit just got tossed out of federal court and the atheists don’t know if they’re going to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or not.

A federal court ruled Monday that the existence of a cross at Ground Zero does not violate the Constitution, slamming the appeal filed by the secular activist group American Atheists.

The famous cross, formed by two intersecting beams left standing after the 9/11 attacks, has been a powerful spiritual symbol for many since and even during the tragedy. Frank Silecchia discovered the cross while helping recover bodies from the site. “It was a sign,” he later said. ”a sign God hadn’t deserted us.”

American Atheists felt differently. In July 2011 they filed suit over the cross, which had been included in the 9/11 Memorial Museum, saying members of their group found its presence there “offensive and repugnant to their beliefs, culture, and traditions, and allege that the symbol marginalizes them as American citizens.”

“Many of American Atheists’ members have seen the cross, either in person or on television, and are being subjected to and injured in consequence of having a religious tradition not their own imposed upon them through the power of the state,” the suit read.

The Franciscan priest, Father Brian Jordan, who reportedly originally had the cross pulled from Ground Zero. “In a way, we’ve been vindicated,” he said. “I’m satisfied and gratified that this will go down as a piece of history — as a reminder.”

But the Second Circuit stated that the “actual purpose in displaying The Cross at Ground Zero has always been secular: to recount the history of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and their aftermath.”

The court said the cross tells “the story of how some people used faith to cope with the tragedy.”